1. Field of the Invention
Enhancement of surfaces that may be initially cleaned and subsequently permanently or temporarily re-colored is disclosed herein.
2. Description of the Background of the Invention
Improving the aesthetics in homes has long been practiced by many consumers. There is a plethora of home products and techniques for cleaning surface areas of soft surfaces such as carpets, rugs, draperies, curtains, upholstery, and the like. However, for more sullied and/or worn surfaces, subtractive processes (for example, a process that chemically or physically removes something from the carpet, such as cleaning or shaving) cannot truly restore the surface to its original state; this is often very frustrating for consumers. Oftentimes, spots and stains reappear after treatment.
Additive processes (for example, a process that layers, covers, or masks something undesirable underneath) and techniques for improving the aesthetics of surfaces include painting, faux painting, stenciling, bordering, wallpapering, tiling, wainscoting, paneling, decorative plastering, adding appliques (for example, pictures, cut-outs, stickers, or the like), laminating, and molding (for example, crown, shoe, and chair) are known. However, the aforementioned subtractive and additive products and techniques have seldom been combined and applied to surfaces such as carpets, rugs, draperies, curtains, upholstery, and the like.
In one instance, stain removing assistant compositions that contain 15 to 35% anionic surfactants, optionally 3-25% by weight of a water-insoluble alcohol, 3-25% by weight of pine oil, and 30-73% by weight of water are used in combined cleaning and dyeing of natural or synthetic textile materials and hard or soft surfaces. The cleaning and dyeing process can be performed in a single- or two-stage process.
In another instance, a method for spot dyeing nylon carpet includes bleaching a stained area of a nylon carpet and then applying separately and in sequence primary color acid dyes in aqueous solutions to the bleached area to match the color to the surrounding color of the carpet. The bleached areas to be treated are first subjected to rinse and extraction steps and a subsequent bleach neutralizing step to remove the bleach.